Google’s Android continues its rapid ascension among smartphone players, beating out all competitors in a Canalys ranking of global smartphone platform shipments.
The results show Android beating out traditional leader Nokia for the top spot with 32.9 million units shipped in the fourth quarter compared to Nokia’s 31 million. With Android spread across so many different vendors, Canalys said Nokia remains the leading smartphone vendor in units shipped with a 28 percent share worldwide.
Meanwhile, it was a bang out quarter overall for smartphone sales. Canalys reports over 101.2 million smartphones shipped in the quarter, an 89 percent uptick over the same quarter a year ago. For the year, sales soared 80 percent compared to 2009.
In the U.S. Canalys said Android is the undisputed leader in shipments with 12.1 million units in the latest quarter, almost three times as many as RIM’s BlackBerry line.
Enterprise Mobile Today has more details on the Canalys report including the impact of Apple’s recent deal adding Verizon as a U.S. carrier of the iPhone and what new technologies smartphone vendors will be deploying in 2011 to help differentiate their products.